The resorts of Sa Coma and its neighbour S'Illot are both part of the municipal district of Sant Llorenc des Cardassar, on the east coast of Majorca, almost midway between the resorts of Cala Millor and Porto Cristo.

Although the transfer time by coach for the 65km journey east from the Son Sant Joan International airport on the outskirts of Palma can vary, it usually takes around 1.1/2 to 2 hours to make the journey into the resort.

If however, you are one of those brave souls who prefer to hire a car at the airport and make your own journey into the resort, driving to Sa Coma from Palma is fairly straightforward, once you've adjusted to driving on the "wrong side of the road".

The main Ma-15 takes you all the way to Sant Llorenc des Cardassar, and from there it's quite well signposted for the final few miles over to the east coast along the Ma-4022 and Ma-4021.

As with the other resorts on the island, a more detailed version of this route, complete with links to maps where appropriate, is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

On a good day an experienced driver should do it in around 1.1/4 hours, but as in the UK if you get stuck behind a lorry, this will increase the journey time substantially.

For the growing numbers of visitors who are now opting for a taxi transfer, there are always plenty of taxis available from the ranks outside of the arrivals hall.

On occasions you should be prepared to queue, and in theory at least, they should all operate on a fixed price basis, typically charging around 75 euro for the journey to Sa Coma, however experience has shown that this "fixed price" may vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried.

Also an important consideration for families with small children, is that these taxis do not as a rule carry child seats, therefore children may have to sit on their parent's knee for the journey.

If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey.

Sa Coma is a modern purpose built resort that really only started to develop during the mid 1980's to meet the every increasing demand for tourist accommodation.

Since then it has continued to grow in a fairly controlled manner by Mallorcan standards, to the point where the resort now offers a good selection of shops bars and restaurants, many of which are either British owned, or targeted towards the British tourist which tend to be in the majority in the town.

In all fairness to the local council, considerable efforts have clearly been made to maintain "green zones" and extend protection to areas of special environmental interest, the most notable of these being the Punta de n'Amer headland which we'll cover in more detail on our Attractions page, and it is sincerely hoped that this policy is allowed to continue into the long term against the ever increasing demand for tourist beds.

Public transport around all of the east coast is at best "unreliable", but for the very brave or very foolish, buses do run into Palma 4 times each day during the summer, inland to Manacor 9 times a day, south to the Caves of Drach 5 times a day, and north to the resort of Cala Millor 10 times each day.

Over the years many visitors to Sa Coma have asked us for information on the bus timetables, although our general advice is the "sit and wait, and enjoy the sun", the local bus operator Aumasa do actually publish what they claim to be the timetable their buses run to.

Until the late 1970's the east coast did actually have its own railway line running from Manacor to Arta, passing through the local towns of Sant Llorenç and Son Carrio.

Although the grand station of "Pou Vell" still remains in the centre of Sant Llorenc, sadly there are no plans to reinstate this line, which for a relatively small investment of the much hated "tourist tax", would undoubtedly prove to be both a major tourist attraction and amenity for the area.

Sa Coma does have an exceptionally sandy beach with the usual selection of water sport and beach facilities including windsurfing and pedalos to hire.

Behind the beach is a wide traffic free promenade that runs the full length of the resort towards S'Illot to the south and the smaller sheltered beach of Cala Moreya, which you may sometimes see written as Cala Moraia.

If you do venture into S'Illot, don't expect to find a mirror of Sa Coma, as most visitors find the contrast between the two resorts to be quite surprising. Unlike the modern purpose built Sa Coma, S'Illot was originally a traditional fishing village that has gradually adapted, and grown into a small holiday resort.

The few remaining fishing boats here are still hauled up each day, over the rocks and onto a concrete ramp at the end of the beach. The two resorts are joined by a footbridge over the small freshwater lagoon and also a slightly longer road bridge.

Of the two resorts, Sa Coma being the more modern, does have a somewhat better selection of 3 and 4 star hotels, whereas S'Illot tends to have a slightly larger number of self catering apartments.

If you are looking for all night karaoke bars or night clubs with foam parties every night, I am afraid that Sa Coma just will not appeal to you. Evening entertainment here is generally hotel based, although the resort does have a small number of lively bars, but even these tend to have few customers after about midnight reflecting the family market that the town attracts.

However, if you ever tire of Sa Coma and are looking for a wider selection of bars and restaurants, the "bright lights" of the more lively Cala Millor are only around 5 minutes away by taxi.

No part of this web site may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publishers. For further information please contact Islas Travel Guides. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of editorial content of this site, no responsibility can be taken for any errors and omissions that occur therein.

This website was launched on 1 May 2002

Copyright 2019 Islas Travel Guides